Location: Underway to the Azores
The start of the day for me was the 12 to 4 am watch. While not the most glamorous of times, that four-hour block of the most riveting sail trimming and bow watching known to man can be a humbling experience as you reflect on the absence of people around you and the insane 5000 meters of water beneath you and all the many creatures and shipwrecks that could be lurking. After the introspection, and upon hearing the magical words of “Watch Team 1, you are relieved.” you can’t help but feel a sense of satisfaction as well as complete exhaustion and readiness to get another 8 hours of blissful sleep. Waking up for lunch, however, is not nearly as difficult. Through those massive, watertight doors, you can smell the brilliant cooking of Anna and co’s fried rice that would make you think the cooking was done on land–where the pots and pans are not liable to slide to the other side of the stove every time the boat heels. After lunch, the anticipation grew for Argo’s crossing of the Mid-Ocean ridge: the longest mountain chain in the world. Crossing the Mid-Ocean ridge is no ordinary feat, and because of that, we had an excuse to make brownies. The Brownie Boys were back in action, but this time around, they had a handicap of no eggs. The great minds of the Brownie Boys were put to the test and through the darkness shone a light: flax seeds. While the boys were making the brownies, watch team 2 was on the lookout and got to see the unreal sight of the Portuguese Man-o-War. These jellyfish lookalikes (they are actually colonial hydrozoans) were sailing along on top of the waves just like us. After that, we are once again treated to some of the best cheffing of our generation, with Chicken Fajitas being conjured up from a dream and Lolo’s bottomless pantries. All in all, it was a good day, with my highlight being, as Ethan always says, “the Chefs.”
Picture captions:
1. A moonrise on bow watch
2. The afternoon clouds by Nopedone
3. Sophia, Anna, JP, and the waves
Current position:
38*05.45′ N x 40*57.19′ W